WhenToWorkSM
Frequently Asked Questions
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YES! WhenToWork an
advanced notification system that allows each user to add as many email
and text message addresses as the like and then set when each address is
notified (ex. when a new schedule is published, when a shift they can
work is posted to the tradeboard etc.). If employees choose to
receive their schedules by email then when you publish a schedule it is
automatically emailed to them. When a published schedule is
changed, the affected employees are also notified. In the
notification email is a link for the employee to click to confirm
receipt of their schedule. This allows managers to see at a glance
which employees have confirmed receipt of their schedule.
Yes, multiple locations, departments or divisions can be
scheduled with WhenToWork. If locations share employees (employees
work at multiple locations) you can set up one WhenToWork company and
location-specific positions. You can then view schedules
for all locations/positions or for one location at a time. If locations
do not share employees you have the option of creating separate
WhenToWork companies for each location - allowing each location manager to have
a different sign-in and password. (If you choose this method your
accounts can be linked for billing purposes so that payment will only be for the total number of employees at all locations
combined.)
Changes to schedules are easy. Simply click on any shift and
change the start or end time, the hours worked, shift name or the
assigned employee. If you make a change to an already published
schedule, notifications will automatically be sent out to any affected
employees (for example, if they will no longer be working that shift or
if they have been assigned a new shift). The schedules that employees view
online always up-to-date.
 One of the most unique advantages of WhenToWork employee
scheduling software is that it allows employees to sign-in and set up
the times each day that they like or dislike to work. The program
can automatically use these preferences if you use AutoFill to assign your
shifts. Having employees set up
these preferences is not required, but can be a very effective tool
in creating the best schedules possible for everyone. Managers can also
enter these preferences for an employee and can also set "cannot
work" times for each employee. (shown in dark red below)
Finding a replacement is easy. Simply click on the shift and you will see a list of available employees,
sorted by who prefers to work at that time.
When you begin your free trial you will be prompted for only
the basic information necessary to get your company started scheduling
immediately. This process usually takes between 10 minutes and
half an hour
(depending on how many employees you have). Once your company and
employee information has been entered you will need to enter your
initial set of
shifts. These shifts become the basis for future weeks. There are many shortcuts
for setting up your
shifts (using CTRL drag/drop to copy shifts to another day or employee, creating shifts for one day and importing them into another -
either as assigned to certain employees or unassigned). Or as you
add a new shift you can check the boxes for the days you want that shift
added. Adding your initial shifts can take anywhere from 15
minutes to an hour - depending on how many different shifts per day you
schedule.
Yes, you may assign employees to shifts by clicking on the
shift and choosing any employee. (The list of employees is
sorted with the available workers who like to work at that time listed first. You can manually
assign employees into all shifts
or into just a few - and then let WhenToWork's AutoFill feature automatically
assign the
rest of the employees.
WhenToWork's AutoFill uses advanced mathematical algorithms to
determine the best schedule for all employees - using the preferred work
times employee have entered, approved time offs, and manager
entered "cannot work" times. You also can choose to
AutoFill based on seniority or priority group.
Schedules can be repeated in a number of different ways.
1. One day's shifts (assigned to certain employees or unassigned)
can be imported into another day.
2. Another week's schedule can be repeated (and modified if
necessary) the schedule can be used with or without previous employee
assignments.
3. Daily and weekly templates can be saved and imported into other
days or weeks.
Any of these methods allow for modifying shift times or which employee
is assigned to the shifts.
You can use the "Auto-Fill" to have
WhenToWork assign employees into the best shifts that match their
preferences. You can choose to
Auto-Fill using one of three methods - all employees being
equal, seniority, or by priority scheduling group. You can even try one
method, clear it and then try another.
Although we do not do automatic
rotational scheduling many of our users create their rotations manually
by creating a template for each week in their rotation and then
Importing the appropriate template for that week in the rotation.
WhenToWork allows you to choose
different ways of giving employees priority for getting their
preferred schedule. AutoFill defaults
to everyone being equal, but you can choose to assign shifts based on
seniority (if you have entered hire dates) or by priority group
(if you have placed employees into different groups).
Managers can block out times of each day that an employee
cannot work. (Red color coded time blocks make it easy to make whole
days or time periods designated as "cannot work.")
Employees can sign-in and set up their prefer and dislike times to work each
day. They can set 15 minute time blocks every day to "prefer
working," "dislike working," or to no preference.
These preferences can be used by AutoFill to automatically assign the best
possible schedule for all employees.
Employees can sign-in and set times
each day set to "dislike working" or request a day or series of days
off. The manager can approve or decline the time off requests and
notification is automatically sent out to the employee. Days off are
then shown for each employee and any shift that overlaps the approved
time off is automatically unassigned.
Yes. Your schedules can be viewed and printed in many
formats:
Weekly - as a calendar or a list
Daily - as a calendar or a list
Monthly - as a calendar or chart
Multiple Weeks - as charts
Graphically - daily and weekly
As a list - daily and weekly
By employee - alphabetically, showing hours worked for each shift and
weekly totals. Schedules can be filtered to show all positions
(departments or locations), or individual positions or groups.
Yes, statistics for each shift, employee, position, day and week
are always available.
WhenToWork runs totally on our severs
and each user accesses their information securely via the Internet
using a unique ID and password. No software or
information needs to be stored on your computer.
When you purchase a regular software program you need to install it (which uses up
hard drive space on your computer) and you are subject to that computer
crashing and losing your data. Online programs provide you with
use of your program from any computer connected to the Internet -
allowing you to also work from home or while traveling. You do not have
to worry about software installation or upgrading to new versions. You
are always working with the most updated version of the software (at no
extra charge).
WhenToWork is a collaboration of three companies that have
been reliably providing our services for over 15 years. We are
committed to our customers and value their trust and loyalty. We
have developed WhenToWork with the long term in mind and have no large
debt like many other "dot coms."
To begin your
30 day free trial you simply need to enter your
e-mail address and you will immediately be e-mailed a temporary
sign-in ID and password. Sign in using these and choose your own
ID and password. You will be guided through 6
easy steps to set up your company. From there you can choose a
week to begin scheduling, enter your shifts and click AutoFill to try
automatic shift assignments. You can try all different scheduling options, make changes and then when you are happy with the
results you can "publish" your schedule, which makes it
available to employees online and automatically sends out notifications
to employees.
To extend
your use you will need to purchase a month, 3 months, 6 months or one year
to extend your subscription beyond the 30 day trial period.
You may pay by check or
by credit card using the "Subscribe Now" link on your Manager Home Page.
Our business model is to answer support
questions via email. This is beneficial for many
reasons: it keeps our subscription prices very low by not having
to staff phone banks, it allows time to research a question or
issue and provide a more detailed response, it also provides a
reference for both you and us to refer to (helping us provide
you better support in the future by knowing what your past questions
have been, and helping you have a step by step guide for
reference later). Our dedicated support team strives to answer
all support e-mails within minutes of their receipt.
We realize this business model is not for everyone, but
hopefully you will become confident, as all of our current users
are, that our email response time is quite fast and our emails
are helpful in answering your questions. |
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